Bono, son of singing icon Cher, told ‘Good Morning America’ he felt the judges got too personal during his final appearances on the show.

“I was called a basketball, a penguin, an Ewok, and I just didn’t appreciate it … If you want to critique my dancing and give me some constructive advice so I can try to improve the next time that I’m there, that would be great.”

“But I don’t really know how to be less penguish, and so I kind of took offense to that.”

Let’s hope Bono decides against following in his mother’s career footsteps. We hear ‘The X Factor’s’ Simon Cowell can be pretty unflinching with his own judgments.

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay wrote the text above at the conclusion of his book, “No Retreat, No Surrender: One American’s Fight,” a book that detailed how Delay stood firm for his conservative beliefs during his long political career. However, in addition to his political career, the title of Delay’s book could also easily describe his recent quest for victory on the hit ABC show “Dancing with the Stars.” During his tenure on that program, while facing an uphill battle, Delay stood firm and fought intensely to win the difficult dance competition, a fight that ended when Delay left the program last week.

Sixteen celebrity contestants started the competition this season of the program with dance partners. In the first week of the show, two celebrity contestants were eliminated (one male and one female). In the second week, a third contestant was removed from the competition. In the third week, Tom Delay chose to remove himself from the competition because of health reasons. As CNN.com reported, Delay left the “competition on recommendations from his doctor and the show’s producers.” According to that article, Delay “said he was just too injured to continue, developing stress fractures in both his feet that made it very difficult to endure the rigors of the competition.”

In spite of his injuries, Delay was able to dance on last Monday’s episode of the program. Although his dance score was one of the lowest that evening, his willingness to dance in spite of his injury and in spite of the pain he felt was impressive. He danced without retreating because of his pain and without surrendering to his injuries and although he made some mistakes during the dance, he showed off his passion for dancing and his dedication to the show. (To see some of the highlights from Tom Delay’s tenure on the show, click here.)

For what it is worth, the former Congressman did pretty well in the dancing competition. He survived longer than singer Macy Gray, supermodel Kathy Ireland and singer Ashley Hamilton. In addition to Delay leaving the show because of his injuries, “Entourage” actress Debi Mazar was also eliminated from the show in the third week. Their departures leave eleven stars remaining on the show including former “Clarissa Explains It All” actress Melissa Joan Hart, pop singer Aaron Carter and singer Donny Osmond on the show.

Even though Delay left the show in only its third week, he was able to show off his dance moves on the program and he looked like he was having a great experience on the show. While some may mock Delay for going on the show, he was extremely entertaining on the program and fans voted to keep him on it week after week.

Regardless of how you feel about the former Majority Leader, Tom Delay was an excellent addition to the show and his fight to win it was appealing. Even with stress fractures in both of his feet, Delay still  managed to dance one last time as a contestant of the show during his third and final week in the competition. Although some may argue that Delay still ultimately quit the show and thus surrendered, Delay’s injuries were not minor ones and the recommendations for him to leave the program from his doctor and the show producers showed the seriousness of his injuries.

In spite of the pain he experienced on the program, Delay’s performances on the program showed that he had not changed much since leaving public office.

He still believes in no retreat and no surrender, in the political arena and on the dance floor.

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama’s Vacation, Federal Deficit, Conservatives Outnumber Liberals, Hurricane Bill, Lockerbie Bomber Freed, Tom Delay, Dancing With The Stars, Doctors, Lindsay Lohan, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jay Leno.

I bet that headline got your attention!  But, as you’ll see a little later in this post, the scene in question is not really a “rape” at all.  But that didn’t keep the NY Daily News from running this headline yesterday:

‘Bye Bye Birdie’ revival on Broadway drops scene for ‘gang rape’ concern

“Just a copy editor trying to get attention by over-exaggerating a story,” you think?  That’s what I thought, too.  But here is the story with Gina Gershon’s quote:

According to Gina Gershon, who stars as Rose in the upcoming revival, the production has said bye bye to a frisky dance sequence that has been in the show since its debut in 1960.  In the scene, Rose, originated on stage by Chita Rivera and on film by Janet Leigh, crashes a Shriners banquet, flirts and cavorts on, around and underneath a table with the fez-heads.  As written, it’s a funny dance showcase. So why is it too hot to handle in 2009? Gershon told The News’ theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz, “It seemed a little too gang rape-y.”

The Daily News takes the words right out of my mouth when it says:

That should come as interesting news to countless high schools, parochial academies and theater camps where this number has been performed for nearly 50 years.

Before I give you my guess as to what is really going on here, I will let you judge for yourself.  Here is Chita Rivera performing Gower Champion’s original Broadway choreography:

It’s not my favorite scene from a 60’s musical, but I don’t think it could be objectively described as a “Gang Rape”… unless you mean that the character of Rose is raping the gang of Shriners!!!

So, what is this REALLY all about?  Here is my hunch:

Whenever a Hollywood star is cast to do a Broadway musical, the first question everyone asks is:  ”Can he/she sing?”  In the cases of Glenn Close and Hugh Jackman, the answer was “YES!”  In the case of Faye Dunaway, the answer was “Oh God, NO!”

But, in the case of Rose in “Bye, Bye Birdie,” the relevant question is not whether Gershon can sing, because Rose’s songs are not very challenging… no, what defines the role of Rose is following in the footsteps of Chita Rivera and living up to the distant memory of her dancing.  Rivera is a Broadway legend who enjoys a reputation of holding an audience captivated with her body and how she moved it.  So, the big question in relation to Gershon being announced as Rose in this revival was not “Can she sing?”; it was “Can she dance?”

Now, I try my best not to be too snarky or catty in my posts.  And I’ve already noted this revival as something I am personally looking forward to…  but, based on this little kerfuffle over cutting this dance sequence and the really lame excuse (“gang rape-y”?  come on!), I think it is fair to say that the answer is, “No, she can’t dance.. at least not well enough to hold the stage for a dance sequence like this.”

As we’ve all seen on “Dancing With the Stars,” if you are paired with a great dancer, you can learn enough and practice enough to be a good enough partner to look like you can dance.  But when you are alone on stage dancing without a partner as Rose is in this number… well, that is something you can’t fake.  And to me, this sounds like a good director and a good choreographer protecting their star and coming up with a press agent’s excuse for cutting a number.

Further evidence of this?  The show is set to begin previews on September 15.  This means the show has been in rehearsal for a couple of weeks.  If the producers and director of this show wanted to cut this number for the reason they are stating now, the decision would have been made a while ago.  You have to believe that they tried it out, and it wasn’t working.  (Unless you believe that they only now have realized that the scene is “Gang Rape-y” after spending the time creating the scene, rehearsing the scene, costuming the scene… etc…)

By the way, revivals have recently been subject to political correct revisions.  The most common is the song “I’m an Indian Too” being excised from Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun.”  The Native American community (how PC am I???) have found these lyrics from the 1946 play offensive:

Like the Chippewa,
Iroquois,
Omaha…
Like those Indians
I’m an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux

Just like Rising Moon
Falling Pants
Running Nose
Like those Indians
I’m an Indian too
A Sioux
A Sioux

Some Indian drummers they’re without a care
I may run away
With Big Chief Sun-of-A-Bear

And I’ll have totem poles
Tomahawk
Small papoose
Which will go to prove
I’m an Indian too
A sioux
A sioux
A sioux
Oh, I’m an indian
I’m an Indian
I’m an honest Injun Indian

I’m an Indian, too.

What has always bugged me about this song being removed is the CONTEXT of the song in the show (context still means SOMETHING, doesn’t it?).  Annie sings it right after Chief Sitting Bull adopts her into the Sioux tribe.  She is honored, proud and happy to be adopted.

Here is rare footage of Mary Martin in the original 1946 production:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Now, obviously this scene is not meant as a historically accurate depiction of a traditional Sioux ceremony, but is it mean-spirited, insulting, derisive?  Not in my politically incorrect opinion.

So, I guess I’m saying…  Gina, if you can dance it, BRING ON THE GANG RAPE SCENE!

Stage Right is on Facebook.

From ABC:

DWTS is a long way from Washington D.C.’s world of politics, so we’re anxious to see just how well this Texas native can do the two-step!

One of the most influential Republican figures in the early 2000s, Tom DeLay rose through the ranks in the United States House of Representatives to become the Majority Leader of the Republican Party. His aggressive “Grow the Vote” method of party discipline, where he never lost a vote, earned him the nickname of “The Hammer” from the Washington Post.

The site is loaded with overwhelmingly angry comments from the entitled Left show’s fans making it clear the choice of Delay will cost ABC viewers:

• This is the most despicable, self centered man in the country.
• I will only start watching after he has been eliminated.
• This man is a criminal!!!! I live in Texas and this is a big state. Maybe DWS thought we might like to see this guy slither across the dance floor. WRONG! The man is a criminal!!!!
• This man is a disgusting loser. Why on earth would you have a viewer repellant [sic] on a once most fabulous show. I’m wondering if he is blackmailing the casting director. Don’t think I’ll watch this season unless I hear he is voted off the island..sorry..just sayin’

You’d think controlling the White House, both houses of Congress, the news media, public education and the entertainment industry would bring bring the Outrage Meter out of the red, but old habits…

Neither is mine.

Fortunately Joel McHale & Co. monitor all of these fine programs-and countless others-on my behalf, identify their most absurd moments, then mock them mercilessly in an easy-to-swallow half hour of weekly television fun.  Welcome to The Soup, which airs Friday nights at 10pm ET on E! 

The show, which has existed in various iterations for years, has reached new comedic heights on McHale’s watch.  In a nutshell, it features 22 minutes of distilled television trash; the very worst of what American culture has to offer.  Degenerate attention-seekers looking for “true love?”  Check.  Startlingly self-absorbed celebrities padding their inflated egos?  Indeed.  Washed-up/cashed-strapped stars demeaning themselves for a paycheck?  Oh yes.  The Soup peddles in the lowest- common-denominator programming that’s beamed to cable boxes and satellite dishes from coast to coast every day. 

So why bother to watch? 

First of all, the show is hysterical.  It’s impressive to see what a group of good writers, a charismatic host, a green screen, and a few outrageous video clips can accomplish.  While the humor sometimes falls short (the brief on-camera skits are generally pretty lame), McHale’s sarcastic evisceration of what passes for entertainment these days reliably includes a handful of laugh-out-loud one liners.  Often the clips themselves are so preposterous that they don’t even require an additional punch line, but McHale delivers anyway.

Second, The Soup serves up a convenient Cliff Notes guide to popular culture on a weekly basis.  The fact that it’s so entertaining is gravy.  Like many people with jobs, I have neither the time nor the stomach to watch even a small fraction of the rubbish McHale skewers, but I still value having a basic awareness of the shows that millions of Americans-many of whom are my peers-regularly consume.   Do I care if Spencer (and his creepy flesh-colored beard) and Heidi are still “married” on The Hills?  Of course not.  But approximately 90 percent of high school girls (who will soon be eligible to cancel out my vote) know all about the picayune details of this soulless, made-for-tv couple’s pseudo-relationship.  If conservatives, already panicky about “young people” and how they’ll vote, have no clue what’s relevant to the very group they’re wringing their hands about, it may prove rather difficult to relate to them, no?  Perhaps this is a juicy rationalization I employ to justify watching the show, although point #1 is the only reason I really need.

Finally, the show generally reinforces traditionalist values.  Bear with me here.  Admittedly, when partisan snipes sneak into the script, they’re usually aimed at Republicans.  And yes, I’m aware that Keith Olbermann is a huge Soup fan, which does give me pause.  Nevertheless, the vast majority of The Soup’s content features McHale flogging the entertainment industry for its gutter values.  He repeatedly rips celebrities over their insufferable self-importance-a theme that conservatives can appreciate.  (That McHale reserves a special brand of antipathy for Tyra Banks wins him extra points).  He also blasts the depraved, over-sexed “stars” of reality shows who seem willing to jump into bed with whomever it takes just to extend their 15 minutes of fame by a few seconds.  His frequent references to sexually transmitted diseases are always good for a chuckle, but they also subtly remind the audience of how disgusting promiscuity and its consequences can be.  While many of these dreadful shows actually celebrate the ignorance of those who appear on them, McHale will have none of it; slapping down this type of foolishness with added gusto. 

The implicit message behind the derision is that it really isn’t cool to be myopic, rude, slutty, or ignorant.  The unseemly behavior glorified on these shows may buy someone a few weeks in the limelight, but will serve that person very poorly in the long term.

The Soup is certainly not for everyone.  Its content and humor is often crass and may offend some people.  It also may take a bit of time to grow on certain viewers.  Not everyone will be instantly enamored with recurring segments such as “Chat Stew,” “Let’s Take Some E,” or “Scenes from Home Shopping.”  Still, if your gut impulse is to ridicule, rather than to accept or even applaud, popular culture, you may find an unlikely ally in Joel McHale.  There will be an extensive menu of television options this Friday night.  May I recommend The Soup?